


There's so much that we share

by EponineTheStrange (gallifreyandglowclouds)



Category: doctor who rp
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-19 07:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/881332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyandglowclouds/pseuds/EponineTheStrange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt and Karen go to Disneyworld.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's so much that we share

Matt has a few days free after he finishes up his stuff in Detroit, and Karen realises that she also has a few days that she can spare before having to go back to the UK for the next thing.

He sends her a message saying, _I command you to fill these days with fun and adventure for us._

She thinks about that for about ten minutes, and then replies, _you ever been to Disneyworld?_

And his answer is no, not even the crappy park in Paris, so that’s how they end up in a just-okay hotel not far from Orlando with a rented Toyota Camry (which Matt will be driving, of course.

“You know,” he had said to Karen when they picked up the rental car, “I’m not better at driving in the US than you are.”

“Seeing as I still can’t get myself down the street without almost killing someone, Matt, I think you’ll do fine.”)

The hotel screws up their booking, and they end up in a room that only has one queen-sized bed. With a groan, they pick up their suitcases and go back down to the front desk.

“Sorry,” the girl at the desk says as she moves them to a different room. “We figured y’all were married.”

Karen shakes her head. She notices Matt hesitate, just for a second, and then he joins her.

“No,” Matt says. “Just friends.”

“Well, hope y’all enjoy your friendly room with two single beds!” She slides the keys across the desk.

Well, that was a bit awkward.

* * *

On their first day (and it might turn out to be their only day, because Matt was so fascinated with the weirdness that was Orlando that he warned that they might have to forgo Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios to fully explore it), they start at Epcot.

“We have to go in the dome,” Karen says. “I don’t care about the lines. We are going in the dome.”

Matt rolls his eyes and follows her.

It is as this point, when they are on Spaceship Earth and they’re slowly moving down the Epcot dome that Karen realises that Matt is afraid of roller coasters, because he’s sitting beside her with wild eyes. Also, he’s dry heaving. Yup, definitely afraid of roller coasters.

“Smithers,” she whispers in his ear, “I’ll hold your hand or something if it’ll make you feel better.”

He nods desperately. She was actually kidding, but he clearly wasn’t, because he grabs her hand and squeezes it so tight that she’s not sure if she’ll still have it by the time they get off.

“Matt,” she says, putting her hands on his shoulders once they are clear enough of the ride that she won’t embarrass him, “that was only nominally a rollercoaster. How are we going to do the ones in Magic Kingdom today?”

“We aren’t.”

She cocks an eyebrow at him. “You sure?” 

* * *

Matt protests against seeing the United Kingdom booth at Epcot (“We live there, Karen!”

“I don’t, not really,” she replies.

“Whatever.”)

But, because Karen knows that compromise is at the basis of any good amusement park visit, they end up skipping it after she extracts a promise from him to go on Space Mountain with her when they go to Magic Kingdom. They somehow end up at a store, and Matt comes up with a game.

“I’m going to go in there,” he says, “and buy you the most embarrassing piece of Disney headwear I can find.”

Before she can even say a word in protest he’s disappeared inside, and all she can do is hope and wait.

He reappears with gold-sequinned Minnie Mouse ears.

“No, Matt.”

“You go find me something embarrassing now,” he says, placing the ears atop her head. “Oh, I also got you this Merida pin, because you’re pretty much my Scottish princess so perhaps the two of you can discuss it.”

She rolls her eyes and goes in to the store. After much searching and comparing, she decides on a plastic headband with two springs attached to it, and attached to the two springs are Styrofoam Mickey Mouse Heads.

She gets it in pink. It will do perfectly.

Matt shakes his head in fear and horror when he sees it. “I am not putting that on.”

“I will wear the gold-sequinned ears,” Karen says, smiling wickedly, “and you will wear this.”

He rolls his eyes, but he does put it on. She snaps a picture of it with her cellphone.

“I will show this to your future wife,” Karen says. “And probably all of your children and grandchildren.”

Matt shakes his head, and they go to find some lunch.

* * *

Their afternoon in the Magic Kingdom flies by. Karen gets her picture taken with Mickey, Minnie, and Merida once they find her.

“Now this picture,” Matt says, once he’s bought the one of her and Merida together, “is the one I’m showing to your family. Actual Scottish princess Karen Gillan, eh?”

Their timed ticket for Space Mountain is at seven-thirty, and there are a few moments in line when she thinks that Matt might pass out or something.

“Relax,” she says. “It’s not even that intense of a roller coaster. There’s no upside down stuff or anything like that.”

“Oh,” he says sarcastically, “that makes me feel much, much better. Thanks Kaz.”

He grips her hand the minute they actually go inside, and he doesn’t let go even when they get on the ride, which is a bit of a Herculean task.

They are sharing their little roller coaster thing with several small children, and Karen notes with some shame that Matt is the only one who is yelling throughout the ride.

“I cannot believe I even brought you here,” she says, as they eat their cheeseburgers after the whole experience is done.

“I just bought you dinner,” Matt says. “Be nice.”

They wander up and down Main Street USA until it’s time for the parade, and it’s only while they’re watching Cinderella in her pumpkin cart that Karen realises that Matt’s still holding her hand, and it’s not a desperate, _help me I’m scared_ kind of grip, it’s a relaxed one, like one where she’d be free to let go at any point, but she doesn’t because she loves it as much as he does.

After the parade there’s a big movie thing on the castle at the entrance, and Karen watches in utter awe, because yes, perhaps Disneyland exemplifies everything that’s wrong with consumerism and the world of today, but this one thing is so beautiful she can’t possibly bear to tear her eyes away.

She gets the feeling that someone’s watching her, and of course it’s Matt, staring like an idiot. He does get this way, sometimes, and she’s seen photos where she’s pointing off at some thing out of frame, but he’s just looking at her like she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. And it doesn’t matter that the Alice and Wonderland thing on the castle is possibly the most amazing thing she’s ever seen in her life, all she wants to do at that moment is stare back at him, because that’s when her heart is the most full of wonder.

He smiles, and she realises that they’re having _a moment,_ and she doesn’t want this one to pass, so she leans in experimentally and he meets her halfway. They’re in a crowd of small children, so she tries to hide her groan when his tongue darts between her lips, and it doesn’t matter that he’s still wearing those stupid ears, this is the most amazing thing that’s happened to her today (and possibly forever, but she doesn’t think that she should be capping those experiences off at age twenty-five).

Their foreheads rest together after they pull apart, and Matt is smiling ever bigger than he was when he emerged from the store with the stupid gold ears.

He wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her against his side, and she leans and puts her head on his shoulder and watches the fireworks go off that celebrate the end of the show, and considers how they’re nothing like the fireworks going off in her heart.


End file.
